Henman makes progress in Monte Carlo

Tim Henman reached round three at the Monte Carlo Masters Series tournament today with a hard-fought victory over clay-court specialist David Sanchez.

The British number one defeated his Spanish opponent 6-3 6-7 (8/10) 6-3 on the Principality dirt.

Although he stumbled in the second and third sets, Henman had just too much quality for his second-round opponent.

Henman's first clay-court event of the season is so far going to plan, and although his early-round victims - American Vince Spadea and Sanchez - are hardly household names, both have impressive results behind them.

Spadea is knocking on the door of the top 10 in the Champions Race after a superb start to the year, while Sanchez had a semi-final appearance at the Vina del Mar tournament earlier in the season.

Having taken the first set with just one break of serve, Henman made an immediate impression on the Sanchez serve in the second.

He broke to go 1-0 up, but then Sanchez hit back to bring the set back onto serve.

A semi-finalist at this tournament in 2002, where he eventually succumbed to Carlos Moya, Henman's game lost much of its momentum over the course of the next several games.

Sanchez's big forehand began to become more of a factor, while both players were struggling to land their first serves, and at 5-5 in the second set the match was firmly in the balance.

After a three-setter against Spadea, Henman was hoping to get this one out of the way as quickly as possible, but Sanchez was dictating much of the play.

The chances to get in at the net were becoming fewer, and Henman was frequently found lacking with his ground shots from behind the baseline.

For the second time, Henman had to serve to stay in the set at 6-5, and he succeeded in his mission, but in the tie-break he was soon trailing.

Sanchez claimed the first mini break, and a stunning pass took him 5-3 up and within two points of forcing a deciding set.

That soon became 6-3 when Henman framed a forehand out of court, but then came a Sanchez collapse as he dropped three points in a row - two on the Henman serve and then the third on his own serve when he volleyed into the net.

A fourth set point for Sanchez came on the Henman second serve, but a magnificent down-the-line forehand meant the tie-break was level once more.

It was becoming a marathon tie-break and the scores soon reached 8-8, but this time Sanchez made no mistake and won successive points to clinch it 10-8.

The stubbornness of Sanchez had helped him get back on track, but then Henman upped his level of play and the third set saw the sixth seed take initial control.

He charged into a commanding 5-0 lead, with two breaks of the faltering Sanchez serve.

The Spaniard avoided a final-set whitewash by finally holding for 5-1, and then breaking the Henman serve for 5-2.

Another game made it three in a row for Sanchez, and Henman had every right to be nervous, but he regained composure and held on to clinch the ninth game of the decider to ensure his progress.